Crime cases 40pc down in Sar-i-Pul this year

SAR-I-PUL CITY (Pajhwok): Local security officials on Tuesday said criminal cases decreased by 40 percent in the first eight months of the solar year in northern Sar-i-Pul province over last year’s incidents in the same period.

Sar-i-Pul deputy police chief Col. Ghulam Sakhi Nikpi in an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News said the crimes committed this year included murder, injuring, robberies, sodomy, adultery and others.

Without giving more details, he said 47 men and 21 women had been detained in connection with these crimes.

Nikpi said 168 criminal cases were registered during the first eight months of last year compared to 120 cases during the same period this year, showing a 40 percent decline in the crime graph.

Meanwhile, a provincial council member, Mohammad Ali Hakimi, said crime cases could increase if security forces did not disarm illegal armed groups.

He expressed concern over the presence of illegal armed men and said, “The number of illegal armed men is double compared to Afghan security forces in Sar-i-Pul, it is a matter of concern.”

On the other hand, a civil society activist in Sar-i-Pul, Hekmatullah Haidari, said most parts of the province were under militants’ control.